Lions Novelty Doubles
Post date: Feb 04, 2020 10:42:39 PM
Josh Stacey continued his good start to the year on Monday evening, adding the Lions Novelty Doubles to his list of honours for the first time, in collaboration with junior player Erin Vaudin.
The Novelty Doubles has been going since 1975 and pairs up high-ranked with lower-ranked players, the result of which usually produces some interesting combinations of players with different styles and some close and competitive matches.
Much of the credit for the win must go to Vaudin who supported her partner with vigour and coped well with any spin thrown her way, while dispatching any loose balls efficiently to support her partner well.
Stacey and Vaudin had progressed through the first stage as group winners, though they almost came unstuck against Jamie Ferbrache and Mick Ingrouille, coming through on deuce in the 5th game. In the semi-final they defeated the dangerous pair of Ben Foote and Callum Gilson in an entertaining match featuring some classy backhands from GTTA junior Gilson and a few outrageous round-the-net shots from Stacey.
On the adjacent table, Steve Martin and Steve Ozanne had only just qualified from their group with a narrow win over Foote and Gilson in a 5-game thriller. The pairing got stronger as the evening wore on and overcame the Ravenscroft Panthers duo of Peter Vivian and Richard Edwards by a score of 3-1 in the other semi-final.
Ultimately the final proved one-way traffic as Stacey's placed shots and Vaudin's fast forehands got the better of Ozanne and Martin who went down 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.